Educating myself

I have recently confirmed with the New York Bar association that being a University of London law graduate entitles me to sit for the New York Bar exam, a process that should take me roughly a year to complete.

While this will only entitle me to practice law in the state of New York, barring some extremely high scores on my part, it still beats the other options available to foreign law graduates in the United States of America:

Option 1:

Sit for the LSAT examination and attend a Juris Doctorate (J.D.) program for 2 to 3 years, and then sit for a state Bar exam upon graduation. This will of course add roughly 30,000 to 40,000 dollars of debt to your portfolio for each year you're in school.

A further downside to this is that a J.D. is basically an L.L.B. in the United States, it used to be called an L.L.B. in the past and was changed at some point. So I would basically be going back to school to re-earn a degree that is on par with my U.K. law degree.

I feel that this is a pointless exercise that a lot of foreign law graduates get misdirected to which costs both a lot of time and money.

Option 2

Sit for an L.L.M program, which is basically a Masters or Advanced degree in law and will take roughly a year to complete (again with the 30,000 to 40,000 dollar fee approximate for a year). This degree requires that a student already hold a J.D. or L.L.B.

While this still involves going back to school it is more suitable to foreign lawyers who want to acclimatise themselves to the U.S.A. legal system without rushing on to the Bar exams. Additionally a prospective student would be working towards earning an advanced degree rather than another basic law degree, which would edge them forward in any aspirations they may have in obtaining a PhD in Law.



I still have a fair bit of time to sort out my education and career so I am not rushing into any one of these alternatives, and even considering sitting for the MBA instead to diversify my capabilities a bit.

However it is very important when making these types of decisions that you go out and do the research instead of only relying on the advice of friends, as the best they can do is relate their own personal experiences.

The internet is your friend and google saves lives.